François-Xavier Garneau

François-Xavier Garneau

François-Xavier Garneau
Born (1809-06-15)June 15, 1809
Quebec, Lower Canada
Died February 3, 1866(1866-02-03)
Quebec, Canada East
Occupation notary, civil servant, historian, poet
Monument of François-Xavier Garneau in Québec City

François-Xavier Garneau (June 15, 1809 – February 2 or February 3, 1866)[1] was a nineteenth-century French Canadian notary, poet, civil servant and liberal who wrote a three-volume history of the French Canadian nation entitled Histoire du Canada between 1845 and 1848.

Biography

Garneau was born in Quebec City, educated at Quebec seminary, studied law, and was admitted as a notary in 1830. Subsequently he became clerk of the legislative assembly, member of the council of public instruction, and city clerk of Quebec, which office he held from 1845 until his death on February 2 or February 3, 1866. Garneau was an honorary member of literary and historical societies in the United States and Canada, and for several years president of the Institut Canadien of Quebec.[2]

Histoire du Canada

Garneau argued that conquest was a tragedy, the consequence of which was a perpetual struggle against the forces of English Canada for the French Canadian nation; this struggle would continue into the future as long as French Canadians were under the oppressive reign of the British. The book was originally written as a response to the Durham report, which claimed that French Canadian culture was stagnant and that it would be best served through Anglophone assimilation. It was first translated in 1866 and by then "the accepted national history" of French Canadians.[3]

Works

Legacy

François-Xavier Garneau Medal

The François-Xavier Garneau Medal is the highest award given by the Canadian Historical Association and is given once every five years for an outstanding Canadian contribution to historical research. Recipients were: Louise Dechêne (1980), Michael Bliss (1985), John M. Beattie (1990), Joy Parr (1995), Gérard Bouchard (2000), Timothy Brook (2005), John C. Weaver (2010)[4]

2010 Winter Olympics

Canadian actor Donald Sutherland narrated the following quote from one of his poems at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

In what other climate does the Queen of Silence
Show us more splendour?
I love, Oh Canada, night, the vast plain
Shining with whiteness!

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Savard, Pierre and Paul Wyczienski. "Garneau, François-Xavier", in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto and Université Laval, 2000, retrieved December 22, 2008
  2. ↑  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Garneau, François Xavier". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  3. ↑ Hopkins, J. Castell (1898). An historical sketch of Canadian literature and journalism. Toronto: Lincott. p. 119. ISBN 0665080484.
  4. ↑ CHA website: The François-Xavier Garneau Medal

English

French

External links

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